1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices and methods for project management, and particularly relates to a device and a method for project management which generate schedule tables and collect information during operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are devices which generate schedule tables used for laying out work schedules. Typically, a whole process laid out by a schedule-table can be divided into a plurality of work steps. For example, a whole process of software development is comprised of a plurality of steps such as a basic design, a function design, etc.
When the devices create a schedule table for a series of work steps, a starting date and a finishing date for each step have to be indicated by users, and a scheduled period of each step is shown in a table format or graphically delineated by a schedule bar. When schedules are graphically shown by schedule bars, the schedule table is called a Gantt chart. When one of these dates needs to be changed, all data for affected steps has to be entered again in order to create a new Gantt chart.
In the case where the scheduled period of each step is delineated by the schedule bar, a left end and a right end of the bar correspond to a starting date and a finishing date, respectively. Also, a given day during the scheduled period is represented by a point which is in a corresponding position in the bar between the left end and the right end.
When creating a Gantt chart comprised of a plurality of-work steps, the starting date and the finishing date for each step have to be entered one by one, which is an excessive amount of tedious work. Also, when there is a change in a scheduled period for one work step, the schedules for the following steps will be influenced. A delay of one step by one month in the schedule may result in all the following steps being delayed by one month, for example. In such a case, data of the modified dates has to be entered for all the following steps in order to make a one-month-delayed Gantt chart. This requires long hours of a tiresome work. Also, in a device operating as described here, it is hard to say that the existing Gantt chart can be edited to generate a new Gantt chart, since all the modified dates should be reentered.
In some devices for generating a Gantt chart using the schedule bar, pointing devices such as a mouse can be used for indicating the starting date and the finishing date. However, these dates are indicated by positions which are visually determined in a rough manner. Thus, an accurate indication of a date is so difficult that erroneous inputs, off by a couple of days, are often made. This results in frequent corrections being necessary.
Furthermore, when there is a need for showing the progress of the work steps, graphs or tables separate from the Gantt charts are used in the prior art. Also, once a Gantt chart is modified, which is likely to happen, an original Gantt chart stored in a memory is generally replaced by a new Gantt chart. Thus, the original Gantt chart cannot be displayed again after it is modified.
When the scheduled periods of a plurality of work steps are overlapped in time, the schedule bars of these work steps have to be shown without overlapping on a display. Thus, the schedule bars need to be shown in a different row (if horizontal bars are used). With a limited area of the screen display, it is difficult to show a large number of work steps simultaneously.
Also, as described above, the progress of each work step cannot be shown on the Gantt chart itself. Furthermore, because a schedule is repeatedly changed as needed and old schedules become necessary at a later time, every schedule has to be printed out before being modified.
Furthermore, there are other problems with regard to the devices for generating the Gantt charts. In the Gantt charts, it is sometimes required to show character information for a particular date. For example, arranged ceremonious or national holidays may need to be shown in the Gantt charts. Although the Gantt charts of the prior art are provided with spaces for showing such information, an area used for this purpose is quite limited. This is because the display of such information does not play a main role in the Gantt charts.
In the prior art, when entering character information for a particular date, the user may indicate a position on the display for arranging characters, and enter the characters at the same position much like using a word processor. Or the user may indicate a position of the display for arranging characters, and enter the characters into an input frame provided at a different location on the display. Or the user may enter character information and corresponding date information into an input frame provided separately from a display area for the Gantt chart, and then, the character information is arranged at a location corresponding to the date information.
When the character information for particular dates is displayed in the Gantt chart, the location for displaying the character information is defined by these particular dates. Thus, if a space for displaying the character information for a given date is relatively small compared to a length of the character string or if particular dates are close to each other, the character information cannot be displayed entirely because of lack of the space or overlapping of the characters. In such a case, the characters are not providing as much information as they should.
Even if satisfactory Gantt charts are obtained by using a device which obviates the problems described above, there will be other problems with regard to the project management.
These days, it is required to develop products in time as laid out in a plan, and this is particularly so in manufacturing industries. In order to assure this, it is important to know an aptitude of each project member of a project at the time of making a project plan, based on his/her past work, experience, skill, performance, etc. Thus, it is required to collect and analyze achievement data regarding each project member at the end of each project, in order to benefit the planning of future projects.
In the prior art, the achievement data for the project management is collected and analyzed by hand. Since a large amount of data is necessary for the project management, the collection and the analysis require long hours of labor.
FIG. 1 shows a prior-art method of managing the achievement data. As shown in FIG. 1, after the completion of a project, data of a plan, data of daily progress of the project, and data of mistakes (i.e., "problem data") which are recorded on project reports are collected by hand. Then, the collected data is edited by using a word processor and the like to create the achievement data.
Since the data is collected by hand, without a predetermined format, types and units of the collected data may be different from project to project. Also, even if the types and the units are the same between different projects a format of the achievement data may be different. For example, a data arrangement in a table showing the achievement data may be different between the projects. Thus, it is difficult to make a comparative study of the achievement data between one project and another project.
Accordingly, the prior-art method of managing the achievement data has the following problems. The collection of a large amount of the achievement data requires long hours of labor. Since the types and the units of the data may vary, the achievement data of one project may not be able to be compared with that of another project. Since the format of the table may vary, the comparative study of the achievement data between different projects may be difficult.
In a system of project management, there is an increasing need for a system of managing the progress of a project. In order to properly manage the progress of the project, an environment should be provided where each project member can report the current situation regarding his/her own progress at a time of convenience. Also, supervisors should be able to check the progress of each member whenever it is necessary, so as to be able to control the progress by modifying the schedule of the project.
Furthermore, when one project member is replaced by another, it is important to be able to manage the progress while preventing a discontinuity from occurring between a file of the old project member and a file of the new project member.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show systems of progress management of the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2A, each project member enters the current situation of his/her own progress into a progress-management device 100, which is administered by the supervisor. Then, progress data for all the project members is combined together. Another system configuration is shown in FIG. 2B. In FIG. 2B, each project member is provided with his/her own progress file, and is responsible for adding required progress information into the progress file. Then, the progress file of each project member is combined at a supervising processing device 110 in order to generate a progress report.
However, in the system of FIG. 2A which centrally manages the progress data at the progress-management device, there can be a time conflict between project members in using the progress-management device in order to report his/her own progress. On the other hand, in the system of FIG. 2B which manages the progress data by handing out the individual progress files, a problem rises when the supervisor changes the schedule or a project member is replaced by another project member. When such changes occur, relevant individual files must be collected and modified so that the integrity between the individual files and the supervisor's data can be maintained.
That is, when the system shown in FIG. 2A is used, a project member cannot use the system if another project member is using the system. In such a case, the progress report cannot be made. On the other hand, when the system shown in FIG. 2B is used, a change made on the project by the supervisor may not be reflected in the individual files. In such a case, the integrity of the individual files cannot be maintained.
In consideration of all the above-mentioned problems with regard to the project management, various needs can be laid out in the field of devices generating Gantt charts, management of achievement data, and systems of the progress management.
Accordingly, there is a need in the field of devices generating Gantt charts for a device generating Gantt charts which enables an easy, fast generation and modification of the Gantt charts.
Also, there is a need for a device generating Gantt charts which enables an easy check on the progress of work steps, a clear display of overlapped work steps in a limited display space, and a way to compare an up-to-date Gantt chart with old Gantt charts.
Also, there is a need for a device generating Gantt charts which enables a clear display of character information for particular dates without failing to display the information.
Also, there is a need in the field of the management of the achievement data for a device for managing the achievement data which can allow a comparative study of the achievement data between different projects by automatically collecting accurate achievement data in a unified format. Also, there is a need for a device for managing the achievement data which helps in the prompt progress of a project as laid out in a plan by creating a more reliable and accurate plan.
Also, there is a need in the field of the progress management for a system and a method for progress management which allows each project member to report his/her own progress at any time, and, also, allows supervisors to change a project schedule at any time without creating a mismatch in schedule data between a supervisor side and a project member side.